I hear it is hard on dies? Is this true? Anything else I should know? I only have 20 nickel plated cases anyway....

Why do they exist in the first place?

inside of the necks was ruff as all get out. scratched the carp out of bullets and the expander ball of my dies. chucked them into the round file bucket.

------------------
born on a mountain, raised in a cave, hunting and fishing is all i crave!

I have not used very many nickel plated cases, but the ones I have used I haven't seen them "work" any different through my dies. I don't know about the other guys, but the main reason I don't use them is cost. Just not worth it to me, otherwise I think they are the same. I'll use them in a pinch. I do try to keep my brass clean, or clean it before running through the dies. I do also try to use higher quality dies, maybe that helps too?

Hi, Gatehouse:
Chuck them. Bits of nickle chip loose and scratch your dies. Believe me, I know.

Bye
Jack

One thing I've learned concerning nickle is that you have to champfer the inside with a high-angle chapfer tool, not your typical 45* tool. Otherwise they'll scratch bullets when seating. I think if you get that high angle tool you'll find they won't damage the bullets.

If you think they are hard on your dies, you should see what a little nickel can do to your barrel. Look, nickel is pretty and all, however, it serves no real functional value. If it flakes and migrates into your dies, your gun action, and/or your gun barrel, then it can cause problems.

Why take the risk?

I load them once for hunting, and that is all.

I hate to size and work with those hard cases.

I use brass cases for most all my shooting, and IF I have enough Nickle cases, I load them for hunting and hope none come home.

------------------
May I be half the man my dog thinks I am.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I have been reloading it since 1968 and have had no problems...

I trim the nickle off the necks and use them for solids so I can tell at glance what I have in my hand, pretty handy....

I have had no problems with them..I'm miffed how they can scratch a hardened die, particulary an expander button, as nickel and brass are much softer than steel in this case...perhaps a bit of sand or dirt was on or in the case???

------------------
Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

While there are some drawbacks to nickel, I'm amazed at the negative reputation it has acquired recently.

Handgunners have been loading predominantly nickeled brass for many, many years without complaints of scratching dies, hard resizing, etc. (I formed some .243's from Federal nickel .308's recently with one easy pass through the FL die and had nary a problem.)

It is true that some calibers and brands of nickeled rifle cases have unreasonably rough inside neck surfaces. This can be solved by running a steel wool-wrapped dowel turned by an electric drill into them.

Nickel cases have the advantage of not tarnishing or accumulating "gunk" like bare brass can. This is no big deal, but if you have a quanity of nickeled brass, it can certainly be loaded effectively.

I've heard a lot of dire speculation on "damage" to gun barrels from flecks of nickel, but have never heard of such in handguns, many of which shoot tens of thousands of rounds in a year.

I use nickel shells in the fall. They are easier to find in the leaves. I have had no problems wiht them for rifle or pistol.

Like Ray I use them to distinguish between different rounds at a glance. I've reloaded as many nickel cases as brass and have never found a mark on dies, bullets, breechs or any of the above difficulties. When I'm sheep / goat hunting I mostly carry 200gr and 150gr Barnes X, I load the 150s in the mag and a 200gr in the pipe (bears), at a glance I can tell whats where since I load the 150s in nickel and the 200s in brass.
Load them up, I'm sure you won't have any problems.

...Peter

I use nickel-plated cases, specially when hunting under the rain. Moisture, nor your fingers can stain nickel.

I have never had any problem with these cases, but I only size the neck, and throw them away after four firing. I don't tumble them, but instead brush the inside of the cases with a soft nylon bore-brush to remove all traces of powder, then I coat the inside wall of the neck area with RCBS lube, and finally size/decap them.

After that, I trim and chamfer them, and finally wash them inside and out with hot soapy water. I clean the inside with the nylon brush one more time, and rinse them thoroughly with very hot water. I shake them a little to remove as much water as possible, then I dry them with a hair dryer (blow dryer). I place them in a loading block and let them air dry in a warm room for a couple of days before I use them.

I do the same with regular brass.

Throw them in the trash and get some good brass. All you will have is trouble reloading them.

I don't enjoy case prep with the nickel brass. BUT I do like the "looks" of the finished product and the way it holds up in the field. I use them in guns that I know I won't have to do alot of trimming for. Once you get the burrs out of the case mouth they work fine.

I use Nickel for .38spl and Brass for .357 .

Easy way to tell which is which.

Okay, lets cut through the BS and urban legends and ask a metalurgist to find out just how hard the nickle used to plate brass cases realy is. To listen to some of you, it seems you think this stuff is chrome! I strongly doubt it is hard enough to scratch even mild steel, let alone die or barrel steel.

I have been loading nickle plated 7-08, .280 and 300 WSM brass for 10 yrs., and 38 special, 6x47 necked out to 7x47 and 357 brass for 30 yrs. Narry a problem with dies or barrels.

------------------
if you run, you just die tired

I have never had any problems with nickel cases. I regularly use them to make wildcats.
See photo. 338-06 made from winchester nickel 30-06 case. I don't know what all the fuss is about. By the way I use only Redding dies.

------------------

Have used nickel brass for years and have had No problems.......

I know that nickel plated brass is not as nice to work with. Very scratchy eeven when properly lubed. But they work fine in my dies (Hornady).

Does anyone know whether dimensionally the nickel plated stuff is more precisely made? Some of the Win brass I get has a lot of variation in the primer pockets even when new.

Given the choice I'd get plain brass. But the premium ammo all seem to use nickel plated brass.

Regards,
JohnT

I have these numbers for comparison from my materials handbook.

Hardness of metals on the Rockwell B scale.

naval bronze 55
cupro-nickle 45
4130 steel 95
416 stainless steel 39

The above numbers are approximations and absolutely arbitrary on my part. There are too many variables not accounted for with out knowing the exact composition and processing of the metal in question(nickle). Cupro-nickle is a likley candidate. The two steels are what most(not all) manufactures use for receivers and barrels.
I suspect that most scratched cases, chambers, and dies are from dirty, neglected components. Sand and most other mineral contaminants are much harder than the steel in dies and barrels. Tis why stones are used to sharpen steel tools.

Back to the main question. I use nickle plated brass for many different cartridges and have never had a problem. Since I use a Wilson case trimmer, which does not utilize pilots, I have no problems trimming cases. In fact the Federal nickle plated brass is some of the best belted magnum brass I have used; very uniform and very tough. Too bad they don't offer it as a component any longer.

In my years of reloading I have on problems with them. I would agree with Ray Atkinson on scratching dies and Barrels

griff __

OK. First, metallurgist is spelled with two l's. Second, nickel is spelled nickel.

The nickel on cartridge cases is called "electroless nickel" since it is deposited from a chemical bath without the use of electricity. The advantage of electroless nickel is that it will deposit uniformly on all surface, including internal cavities, whereas electro-deposited nickel requires special, complex electrodes to accomplish the same end. The thickness of the deposit is about 0.0001 inch (or less).

As-deposited, electroless nickel is highly stressed. Hence, it is quite hard and quite strong. This will influence the loads required to size cases as well as the "grip" of the case neck on the bullet. Thus it is advised that plated cases be kept separate from plain brass cases where near-perfect repeatabilty is a requirement.

Electroless nickel does flake-off and is hard enough to scratch dies, et al. However, this is not a common occurrence given proper case preparation (by the plater) and keeping the sulfur content of the bath very low. Sulfur is a serious embrittling element in nickel.

The primary purpose for nickel plating by any means is corrosion resistance.

Good shooting.

Robert

Here is a pic of a 30-06 Ackley imp. i fireformed from a Winchester nickel 30-06 case. No problems encounted. I do wonder how that nickel stretched without so much as a crack. I looked with a VERY strong magnifying glass.

------------------

Hummm,

I've been using them for years with nary a problem. Several different rifle, different dies, and different brands.

------------------
To be old and wise.....first you have to be young and stupid!

The only problem that may be of significance is that bolt thrust is greater with nickel plated brass than ordinary brass because of it's slickeryness. I have been loading plated rounds in my '06 for years with the same set of Redding dies and no trbls.

Great point concerning the added bolt thrust Daryl.

------------------

As to the reason for nickel cases, I believe, and please correct me if I'm mistaken, is for corrosion resistance; brass tends to go a little green if it gets damp.

Bear Claw __

Three probable reasons why your fireforming came through without defects. First, the amount of deformation (strain) did not exceed the strain limit of the nickel deposit (supported by the brass substrate). Second, the nickel deposit was likely of excellent quality; low sulfur content. Third, the deformation was done hot. The ductility (ability to deform) of most metals increases with increasing temperature.

Good shooting.

Robert

Thirty-three years of reloading nickel cases in handguns and rifles and I have yet to scratch a die or damage a chamber or barrel with nickel. I cannot understand how something as soft as nickel could possibly damage something as hard as steel, and especially the hardened steel of a reloading die. If nickel accelerates wear on a trimming cutter, it could not be much. It was 32 years before I needed to replace the non-carbide cutter on my Lyman Universal case trimmer, and it trimmed many thousands of nickel cases over those years.